220

For the first time in my life, I was given a full dose of barbiturate and morphine within a time frame of 10 minutes. It felt so good. Later, I was given another 5 mg of hydrocodone bitartrate and 500 mg of acetaminophen as pain killers. It's a strong morphine and it is *so* going to help me sleep.
To add to that, my doctor was really pretty. She is an angel in a doctor's white coat. It's so funny that even when my lungs were receiving aid from a breathing apparatus (not to forget, facing 1% chance of death due to a very strong morphine dose according to a paper that I signed before my operation), I had a crush on an angel.
Looking forward for my physiotherapy treatment next week. =)

219

A tribute to Sierra's Homeworld and Homeworld 2. 1999 Best Game of the Year and hopefully, it will be the 2003 Best Game of the Year. Competition will be stiff with the upcoming release of Sierra's Half-Life 2. Despite their success, Sierra should seriously reconsider their marketing strategy

Nothing can take us far enough
- Homeworld, end credits.

p/s - This is so cool.

218

While I was on the way back to Ann Arbor from a hockey match at Michigan State University in Lansing, Aaron asked my opinion on globalization. I said to her that I generally believe globalization is good but the only thing that is making it not work are the restrictions forced on trade. Taxes, tariffs, subsidies etc. are preventing globalization.
Though the restrictions are bad, I went on further and told Aaron, Louisa and Amy that I understand why there are restrictions to trade. Smaller economies, I used Malaysia as an example find it very hard to compete with the US and Europe on the global scale. Malaysia needs and wants to protect its local industries. When a small tiger spars against a fully grown lion, certainly the cub is nothing but a dead meat. The only way to help the cub is to protect it and only let the fight happens after the cub has grown into a mighty tiger.
As I continued to vomit my thoughts, I said though restrictions done by the developing countries are acceptable due to the analogy, the restrictions imposed by the developed nations are a bit unfair. If the US and the EU really want globalization, they should be fair to the developing countries, in particular the Asian tigers and the Latins, by abolishing the subsidies and tariffs that are enforced on industries and imports. While eliminating these restrictions, the US and EU shouldn’t expect the developing countries to do the same thing at the same time. The developing countries should be given extra time to adapt to free trade and let their local industries to gain sufficient capital to compete internationally. Until the developing countries have done that, globalization will never work the way it should have been.
And before the conversation topic moved on to the upcoming Aaron’s Rosh Hashanah celebration, I said both parties on each side of the fence, the advocates and the oppositions both have valid points and both are right. To decide which are you, you only need to see where you are. If you are rich, you possibly would be the advocates; if you are otherwise, most likely you will oppose it.
I said that in the Mercedes drove by Louisa with Aaron seemingly to agree. Amy was quietly thinking about it and the GPS kept on its mission to annoy us. Though I managed to convince them, the idea that I threw out had begun to hunt me down while I was trying to get some sleep after doing my statistics homework on correlation and regression later that night.
On the comfy bed, my mind raced to find a better way to explain why some people think globalization is bad and why I believe in a world without border. Thus, I tarried with a pillow under my head and a blanket covering my body for almost two hours. As the precious sleeping time slipped from my clumsy fingers, my thought brought fruit.
If I could rewind the time and be with those three girls of whom I am growing fond of, I would say globalization is like standing in the middle of the Diag during a warm day, naked with the surrounding strangers staring at you. (My apology to all non-Michigan readers. The Diag a huge students’ square with green grasses and trees around it. During a warm day, no doubt it is the densest place in the town of Ann Arbor.)
How do you feel?
The feeling certainly would be insecurity because there is nobody to help you out. There is nobody for you to call out for help. You are alone, naked.
Similarly, globalization describes the same thing, only that you are possibly wearing a tie with a black coat on. Similarly, it’s like a typical graduating undergraduate. After three, four or five years of college, finally you are facing the real world and you have no idea what you want or have to do. All you see is the sheer magnitude of reality bites. All you see is an omnipresent fierce competition to gain the ultimate objective of this world – money and power.
Nobody is saying hi, nobody is saying howdy; everybody is minding their own business.
But, between freedom and dependency, which would you choose?
I do not know about you but I prefer to be independent, free of all things, dependent on nobody. Therefore, I to a certain degree believe in globalization.
As a note, being a green certainly does not contradict with this belief. Damage to the environment is done by the irresponsible industrialists, not by globalization itself.
And oh, the Wolverines lost to the Spartan 4 - 1 and I think I was responsible for the first two goals scored passed Amy. I’d stopped the ball but the ball somehow went to a Spartan player. I stood there like a statue, not amused by my own mistake. Sigh…
The second goal happened simply because I was out of position but I guess I could shift the blame to Aaron since she was the one that asked me to support her. =)

217

This is just a publicity post.
Since he is one of my best inter-batch friends back in the MCKK, I feel very much compel to help promote his new site. He is Fqrl and he has just launched a new site called Under These Skies.
Simple but great design with blending color and banner. I've added his site under Puppets.
Go. Go pay him a visit now.
And Lada, you need you get your ass up and start updating.

216

The first few weeks of the semester seem to be very good to me.
First of all, I’ve rejoined the Solar Car Team and applied into the leadership rank. Through this, I hope to join the 2005 race crew. The team will be racing in both the ASC, of which Michigan failed to qualify last July and the WSC 2005 in Australia.
Though I really want to join the crew and seriously want to commit my time to the team, I am currently having a problem with it. If my study schedule runs at its current steam, I'll be graduating a semester earlier, seven months short of the ASC 2005. And so, currently I am trying to reduce my pace in any way possible.
Zooming back to present time, at hand, I am in the field hockey team and will be up against MSU in Lansing. Admittedly, it’s just a recreational team but I couldn't remember when the last time a recreational sport team had gone this far.
This semester is going to be sweet.
Furthermore, The __earthinc has expanded its influence in the blogosphere. It has attracted a modest numbers of people and the visitors are no longer are limited to my circle of friends. This might be the result of me participating forums and newsgroups. The other factor is the search engine. The search words linked to The __eartinc usually could be categorized to the environment, politics, science and sports. Frequently this site has been ranked top ten in various search engines for various searches concerning soccer (especially about Ajax and Holland), economics and the environment. And the best thing is, the search word Eugen Slutsky, the economist that derived the demand equation in The Law of Demand, ranked The __earthinc No. 13 out of 179 on Google and 13 out of 119 at Yahoo!.
The average number of visitor has also risen. Right now, for the past four months, the average have been over 200 people, with average unique visitors (a number of visitors with unique internet protocol addresses per month) may well made up about half of that figure.
I guess, after almost 2 years online, this site is going strong after all. After almost 2 years, my life is heading uphill after a bad fall.
To those of who have helped making is site relatively successful compared to other small sites, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

215

The final whistle was just blown by the referee. AC Milan 1 - 0 Ajax.
Well, one good news though. Gattuso received a red card in the final part of the game. Unluckily, Ibrahimovic received a yellow card 2 minutes later and so far, Ajax has collected three yellow cards. This is going to hurt later.
Update on the rest of the matches:
Manchester United 5 - 0 Panathinaikos
Rangers 2 - 1 Stuttgart
Partizan 1 - 1 Porto
Real Madrid 4 - 2 Marseille
Besiktas 0 - 2 Lazio
Sparta Prague 0 - 1 Chelsea
Club Brugge 1 - 1 Celta de Vigo

Inzaghi gets holders Milan off to winning start
By Simon Evans

MILAN, Sept 16 (Reuters) - European champions AC Milan began their title defence with a 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax Amsterdam thanks to a 67th minute strike from the in-form Filippo Inzaghi on Tuesday.
Inzaghi drove home a loose ball after Ajax keeper Bogdan Lobont had parried an Anrdriy Shevchenko shot to get Milan off to a winning start in Group H.
But Carlo Ancelotti's side had goalkeeper Dida to thank for a magnificent save in injury time to keep out a close-range strike from Ajax midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, minutes after Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso had been sent off.
It was a hairy end to the night for Milan and until Inzaghi's strike, his sixth in four games including his goals for Italy in recent Euro 2004 qualifiers, Ajax had produced the better chances.
The win was not a spectacular opening to the European season for Milan but they still managed to display the combination of attractive football, determination and luck that guided them to last season's title.
Ajax, beaten in the quarter-finals by Milan last term, showed they will again be a difficult side to beat although they will regret not making more of their extensive possession.

CLASSIC PASSING

The Dutch side, displaying their classic passing game, had the best chances of the first half with the influential Rafael van der Vaart striking the bar with a free-kick in the 25th minute before Dida was forced into a diving save to keep out a Zlatan Ibrahimovic header.
Milan's main inspiration came from 21-year-old Brazilian Kaka, making an impressive Champions League debut after being selected ahead of Portugal's Rui Costa.
Kaka drew roars of appreciation from the San Siro crowd with some delightful touches and frequently troubled the Ajax defence with his dribbling.
But too often Milan moves broke down in the final stages of attack and they then found it hard to regain possession.
Milan's best efforts before the break were a Shevchenko volley that flew over the bar and a Kaka drive just wide after a swift reaction to a poor clearance from Lobont.
Ancelotti was forced into a change in the 33rd minute when Alessandro Costacurta limped off to be replaced by Dane Martin Laursen with captain Paolo Maldini moving over to left back.

CO-OPERATION

There was little between the two teams after the break and it took a rare piece of co-operation between Milan's goal-poaching forwards to provide the breakthrough.
Inzaghi turned well on the edge of the Ajax area and fed Shevchenko whose low shot was pushed out by Lobont only for Inzaghi to pounce on the loose ball and fire them into the lead.
Milan then launched a series of attacks as they sought a second, Shevchenko going close twice, a first-time shot after a great ball from substitute Serginho was parried away and then Lobont did well again to keep out a header from the Ukrainian.
But Milan's plans to wind the game down were disrupted when Gattuso was dismissed after striking out at Ibrahimovic and Ajax piled forward in hope of a late equaliser.
It almost came when after a piercing run from Hatem Trabelsi, who had troubled Milan's left flank throughout, the ball fell to van der Vaart but Dida pulled off a stunning save to foil the close-range strike.

214

Inzaghi has just scored. Sighed...
According to UEFA.com:
"Inzaghi plays the ball to Shevchenko, whose shot is blocked by Lobont but Inzaghi is able to slot the ball into an empty net. Great link-up between Milan's strikers there but Lobont will feel aggrieved that his fine save fell straight into the Italian international's path."

213

Halftime in San Siro and the game is still scoreless. Meanwhile, Escudé and Van der Vaart recieved their first yellow card for the new season.
According to UEFA.com, Ajax, like in April, is dominating the game in term of possesion.

On the other games, Manchester United seems to be cruxifying Panathinaikos with four goal against nothing, Stuttgart is leading Rangers by one goal in Scotland, the Real-Marseille game has the scoreline of 2 to 1, and Celta is looking to grab three points from Brugge. All other games are still tied at 0 - 0.

The referee has just blown the whistle in San Siro. Second half is under way.
Koeman meanwhile has directed Sneijder to replace Snock.

212

Ajax will be trying to avenge their defeat in San Siro last April. Their mission will start at 2045 CET, which is 1445 EST.
Ajax's probable line up according to Ajax Netwerk are:
Lobont;
Trabelsi, Pasanen, Escudé, Maxwell;
Pienaar, Galásek, Yakubu, Van der Vaart;
Sonck, Ibrahimovic.
Sounds good to me.
Hup Ajax Hup!

Update will follow as the match progresses.

211

Green technology sometimes is so simple that it is unbelievable.
As we progress with time, we are developing better technology that can be applied in various fields. However, some of us look too highly on hyper-advance tech with the like of F-22 Raptor, Lotus Elise 111 and AMD Athlon Clawhammer processor and look lowly on technology that seems to be too simple. Perhaps this is the reason why so many people describe the greens as the primitive people as some of us prefer a much simpler tech appliance to the sophisticated ones.
One instance is the construction of straw houses. Basically, a building is built with larger percentage of the material used is the omnipresent straw. Of course the building wouldn’t be 100% straw. Imagine the consequence of a strong gale against such house. Concrete and lumber are used sparsely in the method, mainly for foundation and support purposes. The straws will be compacted and sandwiched within the wall of such house. When I say sandwiched, I mean within the walls itself.
The benefit of such building is energy efficiency. Straws are particularly good in preserving heat and somewhat eliminate the need of a heater in the middle of the winter. Also, the cost of such house is way below typical house. Here is a report by Wired about this technique.
Another simple green architecture is the mud house. This method uses only mud, sand and naturally available fiber for construction in opposition to concrete and cement. The idea might sound pathetic but such building could last as long as the normal house. In fact, renovation will also be easier and less costly. Linked here is an example of a beautiful mud house.
Admittedly, these two construction technologies are primitive, dated back to at least a hundred years. But yet, the efficiency it provides is amazing and comparable to modern marvels.
Moving along the tech tree, one could come to conclusion that the greens are always concerned with renewable energy. For the past few years, the greens have advocated the use of solar and wind energy up in the governmental level.
While encouraging the use of renewable energy, new simple technology resulted everywhere. I am fairly familiar with the advancement made in solar cells because I am obsessed with them. Furthermore, I am working for University of Michigan’s solar car team and had the responsibility of taking care the solar panel on the 2003 car, SpectruM.
The latest achievement is the solar window shades, currently under the R&D stage in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) of New York. In this technique, solar cells are places inside a glass (in this case, the glass window). During the day, the windows will act as a small, quiet and clean power generators. This will take down the needlessly expensive monthly electric bill. Furthermore, according to Anna Dyson as quoted in Wired News, this technique has the efficiency of more than 50%, much higher than typical solar cells; I’ve worked with solar panels with the efficiency of 17% to 28% and I found it hard to believe when the report says ""way more than 50 percent" energy-conversion rate". However, I can’t argue until I’ve seen the data personally.
Apart from green interests, this solar window solar shade is an effective shade. In fact, it does a better job in shading to the normal shade. Since the cells absorb light, glare will be a thing of in past. Solar window shade is a simple but useful idea.
One could say simplicity is beauty.

p/s – The Wolverines blanked the Fighting Irish 38 – 0. A shutout against a No. 15 team.
pp/s – Ajax has finally regained their form in the face of a Champions’ League game against Milan this Tuesday. Ajax won against RKC Waaljik with a convincing 4 – 1 at home.

210

I, to some extend consider myself as a libertarian, putting personal rights and liberty at the uppermost respect. By saying that, I believe smokers have every right to smoke. Honestly, although I am a green, they do have the right to enjoy nicotine.
At the same time, the air is there in the atmosphere for all kind of activities, regardless whether the activity leads to pollution or not. All living things, from the Inuits to the Australians, Human to ants, animals and trees, must have access to air. We all own it at the same time and we all are responsible for it. Air, is a resource that must be managed as how ideal communists would manage their asset. Everybody has the right to it, smokers and non-smokers alike.
Though it is their freedom to own yellow teeth, a rusty trachea and two lungs with reduced capacity, smokers have no whatsoever right to smoke in the middle of the public, forcing the others to risk inhaling the disgusting smoke. If the smokers have no respect for the non-smokers, then the non-smokers should not respect the inconsiderate smokers.
Though some smokers no doubt do observe public rule, some of them unfortunately do not. These selfish individualistic species need to realize that they do not exclusively own the air. Other people, correction, most people, the non-smokers who actually realize the risk/reward idea deserve the right to clean air. We deserve the right to live a life without cancer.
I don’t care about the smokers’ health. Smokers bring no social benefit to anybody. If they are to suffer cancer, it is their own undoing. If the smoke starts to hunt you, do not turn to me. Do not sue the giant tobacco companies. Just smell the flower.
Rights come with responsibilities.

209

Disagreements should not be resolved by guns nor knifes.
This post is dedicated to Anna Lindh. May her dream of a united Europe comes true.
Rest in peace love.

208

It's September 11 2003, exactly 2 years after new fascism was born into this modern world.

Note - This is The __earthinc's first remote post. Kudos to Ev of Evhead for making it possible.

207

The Netherlands lost to the Czech Republic 3 - 1 in Prague a few hours ago. Rafael van der Vaart of Ajax scored making it 2 - 1 and briefly bringing on hope for de Oranje. However with the Czech final goal by Baroš, the Dutch had nowhere to go but down after that.
Where is that ex-P$V guy when you need them?
Sigh...

On the side note, THANK YOU EV! You have returned Blogger to what it was 3 years ago, before all the n00bs jumped into the bandwagon!

Important Blogger Pro Announcement
From: Ev
To: Blogger Pro Users

Hi there. Evan Williams here, co-founder of Pyra/Blogger.
We're no longer offering Blogger Pro as a separate product and we're folding most of the features into regular (free) Blogger.
Don't worry - nothing you paid for is going away. Your subscription is still valid, and you will continue to have access to features like RSS and post-via-email that are still not in the free version. You'll also have priority support from our expanded team and new support system.
More importantly, I want to stress that we couldn't have gotten to where we are today without you. Pro subscribers helped keep us going as a struggling start-up, when servers and bandwidth were at an extreme premium. We wanted to keep basic Blogger free, but we needed to start charging in order to keep the lights on. So we built new things that would appeal to some Blogger users (namely, you).
Thanks to supportive people like yourself, this plan allowed us to grow and build a better service -- and, eventually, get us to much more stable ground. We're eternally grateful, and I hope you were happy with the relationship, as well.
Today, as you may know, Blogger's situation is much different. For one thing, we're part of Google. (If you missed that announcement, check the FAQ). Google has lots of computers and bandwidth. And Google believes blogs are important and good for the web.
This is a good thing.
So we're in the fortunate position of being able to give back to our users. Specifically, to each of you who paid for Pro (and never cancelled), we want to send you a Blogger hooded sweatshirt as a way of saying thanks. Just fill out this form by October 1, 2003 to claim yours. (If you'd prefer to have a pro-rated refund instead, just let us know.)
We feel this move will be good for all Blogger users, and we're excited about the many new things we have in the pipeline. Stay tuned.

Thanks again,
Ev.

206 This is part 8. Please read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 and part 7.

Another day had arrived and this one had promised me an adventure that I will never forget.
Leman as usual was the first to wake up and I was the second. At that time, which was between 0700 and 0800, the Sun had already hit the sky and so it was sufficiently bright to force anybody to wake up.
Gradually, everybody lost their sleepiness and started to move on a speedier tempo.
The dying bonfire was again lighted, this time for breakfast. Breakfast was generally okay, some sort of soup eaten with few bagels though I was already missing West Quad’s scrambled eggs with well-cooked tots eaten with ketchup. And who could forget, before hitting the eggs and tots, huge hot bagels with blueberry stuck in between them. Along with the dishes, chocolate milk and orange juice to sweeten up the watery mouth. Lastly, a Devil’s chocolate cake as dessert. In the middle of nowhere, that luxury could only be dreamed of.
After breakfast, I don’t know why but there existed a quiet and strange atmosphere. All three of us were keeping to ourselves, packing all of our belongings carefully into the backpacks. I was the last to completely pack my stuffs. In reality, I was among the first to start packing but on that day, the sleeping bag was being naughty and as stubborn as a mule. I took me more than ten minutes of trying before I finally gave up and asked Epol to help me out with the sleeping bag. Thanks to Epol, shortly it was compressed into the lower part of the backpack smartly.
And so we left the spot behind at roughly 0900 hours. The awkward silence was still there and it continued… well, you might say till the end of the journey.
The three of us walked together, with Leman for the first time in the hiking trip took the lead with an incredible pace. With that, Epol and I were left behind together. I was in between Epol and Leman; in fact, I was considerably away up front of Epol. I hiked to a point where I exhausted and took a long rest. Minutes later, Epol joined me on the dirt, trying to catch up a few breaths. Once satisfied with the short rest, he got up a called for me to walk with him but I simply said you go first and I’ll catch up later. If bool is applied to the “you go first and I’ll catch up later” statement, it would not pass the and statement. This was going to be the last time I would ever see any one of the team members for about another 36 hours.
Some time later, I got up and hiked, hoping to fulfill the “I’ll catch up” promise to Epol.


Location where I lost the team. Map by mytopo.com. Click here for a better version
I was hiking really fast hoping to catch up with Epol but along the way, the scenery was beginning to take my breaths away with every step that I took. Of course, the 50 lbs backpack also took my breaths away.
The trail started to go uphill almost radically and the rise won’t stop for more or less another 5 miles, of which in the metric system is (1.6 * 5); approximately 8 kilometers.
Among the wilderness, it was funny that I didn’t feel any fear. By any standard, I would be more scared of being alone in New York City or Los Angeles in the middle of the night than being stranded in the middle of the wilderness.
The view was magnificent. As I said before, I was hiking uphill. The canyon system was born roughly a few miles ahead, carved by the Tuolumne River and its sisters. As the river flows down, it formed a cascade of three main falls. The first fall was the Waterwheel Falls. From down below, the fall was majesty. With tons of water falling at such height, the fall was exerting an incredible amount of force to anything unfortunate enough to meet the water head on.


The upper part of Waterwheel Falls. Photo courtesy of Epol.
I stopped here due to both exhaustion and the wanting to savor the fall. Never in my life have I seen anything compared to this. In Malaysia, the falls are merely cascade of streams of which hardly noticeable from the air. On the contrary, the Waterwheel Falls would be impossible to miss. The only way to miss it is to be blind. Of course, the Niagara Fall is bigger but Waterwheel offers a different kind of impressiveness.
To explain the kind of impressiveness Waterwheel gave, Bob Burd's Sierra Travels sufficiently quoted somebody - “The water dashes 600 or 700 feet down a surface inclined at an angle of 50 to 55 degrees, a mass of foam and spray. At intervals ... the water is thrown out in columns fifteen to twenty feet high, and in huge waterwheels of fantastic forms”.
From the fall base, I thought that the view from the top of the fall would be far more exciting and so, I found a new motivation to get up and walk all the way up to the top. But yet, I can’t help but notice that the trail up to fall top was as tricky as the trail leading up to Upper Yosemite Fall of which I had conquered on the first day.
On the top, I found myself meeting some new acquaintance, three Americans guys. We sort of walked together to the Meadows. To be accurate, we were racing and I was foolish enough to race with them. I was already exhausted at that time and the racing made me almost immobilized.
It took me an hour or two to reach the top. The Americans were the first to reach the top though the time taken by both of us was roughly the same. When I was somewhere in between the top and the base of the fall, I gave my poor muscles a treat. While resting beside the narrow cliff, a man in his 30s or 40s came across me from the opposite direction. As soon as he got me in his sight, he conveyed to me that he saw someone from Michigan way up behind, waiting for me. I asked “way up there huh?” with a stress in the syllable 'way'. The man replied “Sorry for being so discouraging” and so I just smiled back and thank him for the information.
Looking down from the top, I couldn’t believe at the height that I had just climbed. And the falling water was simply beautiful. The water just before the fall was surprisingly calm as there was simply a mass of flat land at the top. Also, I found the three Americans to be resting under a huge pine tree. We greeted each other.
Climbing up the fall was tiring and so, I made a couple hundreds meters from the Americans before putting down the heavy backpack for another rest. During this time, I took the liberty of replenishing my water supply.
At first, I thought there was only one fall to be beaten but upon reaching Waterwheel’s summit, I found out that this is not true. Immediately, I lost my motivation to hike. When I saw the next falls, which was La Conte Falls, I felt a surge of anger and slammed the stick against a huge boulder on the side of the trail. As a result, the stick broke into two. I was disappointed upon seeing that because the stick would still be a kind of a help in climbing the falls. Therefore, from here on, I would be hiking only on my two weakening legs. With crumbling enthusiasm and lack of choice, I continued my climb.
Slowly but steadily did I climb. At last after hiking and cursing my depleting stamina, I reached the birth place of Le Conte Falls. I was about to celebrate my victory in conquering it when I realized, a few miles ahead, the next challenger was California Falls.
With low morale, everything started to go wrong. In the end, I finally felt being abandoned by the other team members and started to curse them in my heart. Anger started to burn me off but the worst thing that could hit any person stuck me in the middle of literally nowhere. It extinguished the increasing flame and replaced it with a hard cold fact – the realization that I had no food inside of the 50 lbs backpack with me saved two cans of mushroom soup of which probably took too much room in the backpack.
With that newly realized knowledge, my stomach was growling. And guess what?
A new knowledge struck me; the can opener was in a bear can, carried by Epol in his backpack. Though I had a knife, with the knife alone could no way open up the can. The can seemed to be made out of carbon alloy instead of aluminum.
The only word I could muster upon that cruel enlightenment was “holly fuck”. I repeated that phrase about five or six time before I started laughing at myself. You have two cans of food in front of you and you couldn’t eat because you can’t open it.
Immediately after I was done laughing, my mind was set to survival mode. I dropped my pack and started to look around for anything that I could find. Unfortunately, there were nothing much around but trees, rocks and of course the abundant water. However, one thing managed to attract my attention – a sort of berry plant. Though the berry was far smaller than a grape, I gave a thought of consuming it. It could be poisonous but at that time, I would rather die trying than dying miserably out of hunger. I had a few dozens of it and it turned out that it was not poisonous at all. In fact, it has no taste at all though it left an aftertaste worse than that pinkish antibiotic syrup.
While eating the berry, I played around with my knife and got into thinking.
Can = fucking can.
Knife = not good enough.
And I saw some small stones. So…
Stone = useless bitch.
Knife + stone = huh?
Stone + can = destructive = no good.
Knife + can = no good either.
Can + knife + stone = hmm…
Can + knife + stone = food?
And so I tried. I held the can appropriately with my feet, a dagger in my left hand and a stone on the right to act as a hammer. With a considerable amount of force, I hit the knife with the stone against the can and voila! The knife went through creating an opening.
I kept on hammering the dagger, imagining myself pathetically back in the Paleolithic age.
From here on, I relearned an old lesson. Never become dependant on anybody. Not your parents, not you friends, not even God. The only one that you could count on is yourself.

p/s - The lack of photo is due to the separation. Epol had the camera and he is a lazy guy in photography term.

205

The first day of class started early in the morning with a phrase:
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Britain Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli said that. What a nice way to start the semester, with Econ 405/Stats 405.

204

Thank you Sjakie!
Thank you for your 28 years of great service to Amsterdamsche Footh-Ball Club Ajax Amsterdam.
Sjaak Wolfs, you will forever be remembered by us, the Ajax's fans.